I highlighted three basic types of virtual events. In subsequent posts, I plan to highlight key questions you should ask as you evaluate your virtual event technology provider under the following categories:

1. Event Support & Experience

2. Virtual Event Planning Tools

3. Engagement & Experience

4. Training

5. Metrics and Analysis

6. Product Roadmap/Innovation

This first part focuses on overall virtual event support and experience.

Number of Events Does Not Equate Experience

Many vendors cite the number of events they’ve developed as testament to their support and experience in creating successful virtual events. However, the number of events produced demonstrates only a company’s ability to, well, produce events. Would you select someone who did 1,000 poorly designed events or one who did 200 very well-conceived and implemented events? I argue you would select the latter.

So how do you get beyond the “number of events produced” response to delve into the characteristics you need to plan, build, design and implement a successful virtual event?

1. This is my first virtual event. What is your process with customers like me? What documentation do you provide to help me understand the steps and questions for a virtual event?

2. How many events do your event directors manage at any one time?

3. What is the event director’s experience in planning, building and implementing virtual or physical events like mine? Can you give me sample events s/he has been involved in?

4. How quickly does your team respond to clients? What is the average time elapsed for responses? 30 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day?

5. Do you survey your customers on their satisfaction? If so, what were the results? If not, why not and how do you know if you’re doing a good job with your customers?

6. Can you provide me with 3 customer references similar to my association, corporation or industry?

7. What is your recommended timeline for an event like mine?

What additional questions are there? Share them below in the comments.

I am curious as to how you would create a similar checklist for organization’s such as our own who operate from a self service model. Our focus is to primarily license the platform and train you on how to best utilize the functionality and features to accomplish your goals. While we have management services available at an additional cost not including those as part of our core sales process allows us to make our solution much more affordable.

Heykel, I think that is a challenge as many are still learning how to incorporate virtual within their overall programs. While many vendors, such as Expos2, are looking to introducen a self-service model, there needs to be an ecosystem created around the service that looks beyond training people how to use the platform itself.

Let me think this over and provide my thoughts in a future post. Thanks for bringing this point up.